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Impactful Endings, Part 7: Do the Twist

Every week, we update our current how-to series entitled, “Impactful Endings: How to End Your Story With a Bang!” This series is about experimenting with different story endings to ensure your conclusion is satisfying to you and leaves an impact on your readers. Our seventh post will be about how to end your story with a twist.

Do the Twist

Some of the best books and movies end with twists that catch you completely off guard. Often times, it involves a character that seemed good but turned out to be bad all along, or a surprise that shocked you completely!

Ending your story with a twist is a fantastic way to end your story with a bang and leave your reader feeling satisfied. There is something about catching the reader off guard that makes for a well-crafted ending. There are countless books and movies with endings that you can foresee, but a non-predictable ending just shows how creative you can be as a writer. Consider all the stories you have read that end with twists. Doesn’t the story seem that much better after you are surprised with the end results?

Twists often occur in mystery stories such as Scooby Doo, when they reveal who the monster was all along. However, you can pull off a twist non-mystery stories, such as Frozen. Think of how the surprise twist at the end of the film made you feel. It is possible to pull from the unexpected to create a twist ending; you just have to make sure you draw from your own creativity!

When crafting your twist ending, think of all these tips:

Think of what kind of twist you want to have. Do you want to have a misleading character or a surprise at the end?

If you are basing it on a character, make a list of all your characters and decide which one of them you want to be misleading.

Add slight hints throughout your story that aren’t too obvious, so that when you have the big reveal, the reader can go back and put together all the hints.

Try not to pull from completely out of nowhere when crafting your twist ending; you want some correlation with the rest of your story.

Your plot twist should be unique and unpredictable.

Lastly, don’t put all your focus on the twist itself; it should merely be a supplement to an already well-crafted story.

You should now be set to start writing your conclusion, and as long as your follow these steps, your fine-tuned twist will make for a fantastic ending. Remember to use every ounce of your creativity, and that will shine through in your writing!